Exploring the Importance of Sociality and Interactivity of Robots in Healthcare

Robots are becoming more and more common sight at hospitals in different countries. It is especially so in developed ones with aging populations, lack of staff or high cost of labor and rapid technological acceleration. Robots can perform different tasks, e.g. surgery, handling and transport of medical samples, logistics, service, diagnostics, rehabilitation, etc. Some of the service robots will need to operate in corridors and in hospital rooms where they will encounter patients, healthcare professionals and visitors - some are users, some are not. This workshop is planned to explore the importance of sociality and interaction of robots with people in hospitals. Do we really need these robots to be interactive? Or why is it necessary for these robots to be interactive?  How about being social? Is there a need for them to be social? If yes, how should this be achieved to cause a lasting positive effect? Is it time for robots to become socially aware (of their environments) or should they be simpler machines completing their compartmentalized tasks? How to avoid the pitfalls of previous less successful attempts to achieve this? 

The workshop aims at connecting researchers in the field of human-robot interaction  with focus on hospitals as well as healthcare professionals interested in using interactive robots at their hospitals

8:30 - 9:00 Registration and breakfast

9:00 - 9:30 Invited speech - Birgitte Østergård Sørensen and Lasse Blond - Danish Technological Institute, Denmark

9:30 - 10:00 Oskar Palinko - the HospiBot project

10:00 - 10:30 Invited speech - Søren Udby - Odense University Hospital, Denmark

10:30 - 10:50 Angelina Nikolaeva Wolf

10:50 - 11:10 Linda Sorensen - University of Agder

11:10 - 11:30 Sina Scholz - University of Luebeck

11:30 - 12:00 Discussion about the future of social robotics in healthcare